You Must Strive Onward

"A very simple principle:

If we can unite the merchants on our turf, unify their supply channels, have our gang maintain market order, and control those supply channels ourselves, then profits will naturally come rolling in."

Xu Yi understood, and cupped his fists in salute.

"Thank you, Master, for your guidance!"

Mr. Ye Hai leisurely drank a cup of tea.

"Even if every merchant obediently pays monthly money to our nunnery, how much could they possibly pay?

But once we unite the merchants, control the supply channels, and take a percentage cut, how much could we make then?

The most profitable business in this world is monopoly.

Xu Yi, I took you under my wing not merely because of our hometown connection, nor merely because of that letter of recommendation.

Most importantly, I could tell that you were a clever man.

Even if I do not spell certain matters out clearly, you can figure them out yourself."

This time, before Xu Yi could speak, Mr. Ye Hai suddenly asked,

"Do you know why I had you spend every last bit of money on you to buy such an outfit?"

Xu Yi had no answer to that question.

Though Mr. Ye Hai looked cold, his words were still earnest and sincere.

"In this world, people have always respected fine clothes before they respect the person wearing them."

"If you want others to speak properly with you, you must dress with care.

If you are dressed respectably, then upon seeing you, people will give you three parts respect first."

"As for how you communicate after meeting, and whether you can persuade them, that depends on whose reasoning is greater."

Though Xu Yi had little experience, he could roughly tell that everything Mr. Ye Hai spoke of was the real hard-earned knowledge of surviving the jianghu.

Gratitude showed on Xu Yi's face. Just as he was about to salute, Mr. Ye Hai stopped him.

"There is no need for so many formalities."

"You cracked Chen Gang, that tough bone, this time. You did very well. Keep the monthly money you collected."

"Since you collected the monthly money, Hongfa Fruit Firm should rightly become your turf. From now on, you will collect its monthly money."

"Next month's monthly money, keep one silver dollar for yourself and turn the other silver dollar over to the gang."

"Also, Candied Zhang at No. 16, 38th Shop District, has always diligently paid monthly money to the gang. He was a good man.

He passed away yesterday. I heard his death was suspicious.

Tonight, go pay your respects in my stead. Also, keep the scene under control and make sure the funeral proceeds smoothly, without any mistakes."

Who paid respects to the dead at night?

And kept order at a funeral?

This was certainly a peculiar job!

Xu Yi sensed that something was wrong, but he still cupped his fists and said,

"Master, rest assured."

Mr. Ye Hai was very satisfied with his attitude. He brewed a cup of tea and set it before Xu Yi.

"If you can handle this matter beautifully, I will have even more important work for you.

Do it well, and there will be plenty of turf and plenty of money to earn!"

Xu Yi raised the teacup with both hands and drained it in one gulp.

Mr. Ye Hai seemed somewhat weary. Reclining in his rattan chair, he spoke in a low voice.

"Once this matter is done, I may well be promoted a rank and transferred elsewhere."

"Then this Golden Orchid Nunnery will be without an owner."

"Among all you brothers and sisters, you entered last, yet I think the highest of you. Because I feel you possess a drive and ruthlessness that they lack! You are very much like me in those days..."

Mr. Ye Hai did not continue.

"No matter what.

You must strive onward!"

Xu Yi was actually rather helpless about Mr. Ye Hai's words of "encouragement."

Having followed Mr. Ye Hai for half a month, Xu Yi, with the perspective of a transmigrator, saw that Mr. Ye Hai was the sort of leader who loved to paint people a pie.

As for whether that painted pie could ever become real, who knew.

Xu Yi bade Mr. Ye Hai farewell. The moment he stepped out of the tea hall's front gate, he felt that gaze from the incense hall fall upon him again.

He shuddered violently. He did not even dare glance toward the incense hall, and quickly left Golden Orchid Nunnery.

Only after his trailing foot stepped out of Golden Orchid Nunnery did the feeling of that unknown, terrifying gaze resting on his back finally disappear.

Xu Yi could not help shuddering again.

It was only just after the End of Heat solar term. Summer's stifling heat still lingered, yet that gaze had left his hands and feet icy cold, making him tremble uncontrollably.

The black-and-white world before his eyes made that chill even worse.

Xu Yi strode toward the 38th Shop District. The direction where the crowds gathered made him feel safe.

By then, it was late. Night had deepened. Though the 38th Shop District had no streetlights, its main road was still bright as day.

That was because there were simply too many residents here, and the shops did booming business. Moreover, trains still arrived until dawn. Following the principle that every bit earned was worth earning, many shops kept their lights burning all night.

Xu Yi walked along the roads of the 38th Shop District. The familiar streets had become somewhat strange. Wherever the light reached was white, while wherever it did not reach was utterly black.

Just then, dark clouds covered the moon.

Without even a sliver of moonlight, places untouched by lamplight became even darker and deeper.

He walked from the tail end of the 38th Shop District to its entrance, found the address for No. 16, then turned beside a candied-fruit shop with its doors tightly shut and pig's blood splashed across them, entering a narrow alley.

The light here was insufficient, and his vision abruptly dimmed considerably.

It was dim, not dark, because small red lanterns hung at intervals throughout the alley—

In Xu Yi's black-and-white vision, the lanterns could actually display color!

Bathed in red light, stepping through mud, Xu Yi gritted his teeth and headed down the alley.

After walking for a full quarter of an hour or so, he finally arrived before a small courtyard.

Wild grass grew thick outside the courtyard. Countless mosquitoes and insects danced around the red lanterns, and the 38th Shop District's distinctive post-rain stench of stagnant water filled the air. The river channel should not have been far away.

Xu Yi saw a group of people dressed in hemp mourning clothes, holding hammers and driving nails into a coffin.

Combined with Mr. Ye Hai's remark that Candied Zhang had died under suspicious circumstances, Xu Yi did not dare go up and strike up a conversation for the moment.

By chance, a man who looked like the household's hired hand stood by the roadside. Xu Yi went over, took out a cigarette, offered it to him, and asked in a low voice,

"Brother, have you eaten?"

The man glanced at the cigarette, clearly tempted, but for some reason did not accept it. He merely said,

"I have. Young man, why have you come to wade into these muddy waters?"

Xu Yi's eyes flickered, and he followed up in a low voice.

"I'm here to help. I don't know how muddy the water is. Brother, what's going on here?"

The man was clearly a talkative sort. He sighed and said quietly to Xu Yi,

"Boss Zhang, who sold candied fruit, somehow offended someone. They set him up in a honey trap, and he ended up owing a mountain of gambling debts. He even gambled away his son and daughter.

Naturally, his family refused to accept that.

Relying on the fact that they had many men in the household, they decided to swallow the debt. Despite the black words on white paper, they simply refused to acknowledge it!

When the debt collectors came to the door, they were beaten to death on the spot, stuffed full of stones, and sunk in the Green Shore River."

Xu Yi clicked his tongue in amazement.

"Robbing the robbers?! That fierce!

Doesn't the Constabulary care?"

The man gave a scornful laugh.

"Everyone who knows, knows what the Constabulary is like. They are nothing but a pack of hooligans in black skins; some are not even as good as the gang's thugs!

With honey traps, even if you report them, most likely nothing can be properly investigated.

Not to mention that they robbed the robbers and never reported the matter to the Constabulary at all. Of course nobody is handling it!"